Talk:Wash Upon a Star/@comment-3041875-20170627135959
Sorry for posting the review late, but I had a very early start today and the fact that I even finished reading the whole episode last night is testament to how much I enjoyed it. The Good – I find myself looking forward to Rena's scenes and stories more than ever. I always said he was at his best when the stories revolved around his main ambitions. And while that's been true since the second season, with him driving his own plots, I think he's now funnier than he's ever been. I really enjoyed the teaser, seeing those who have put Rena down, but how he's persisted regardless. The video chat with his sister was nice, and the ending was a good way of setting up his story for the episode, stating he'd find the Devious Butler. The scene of Rena interrogating Silvia over her husband's demise and not realising how offensive he was being was brilliant, and I loved how he completely latched on to the first mention of a possible suspect, not daring to even think it over, before then suggesting she order take-out (Rena being terrible at his job is always a good source of comedy). Rena being so delusional (he may be more so than Josh) that he'd interrupt an important surgery to interrogate his suspect was fittingly in character and brilliantly funny. I'll admit, for a brief second, while Rena followed Strange, I considered that Strange might actually end up being the serial killer, and I wasn’t sure if it'd hate that or love it. Rena may be just as terrible a detective as he is a butler, but there's a difference: you can't accidently clean a house by being an idiot, but you could theoretically choose the right suspect of a murder for no good reason at all, which may have been pretty funny, albeit stupid. Ultimately, I was glad at how it all concluded, with Strange having an alibi for not being the killer, as he's in a relationship with Huberd. I'm not sure Rena's verbal attack against the police force was necessary, as he just stated things that Joe previously has in the season, and his character isn't motivated by a lack of justice due to the incompetent force, but by his own ego and desires, but I enjoyed the final scene all fine enough. The serial killer being nicknamed as the Devious Butler is a great idea, and I liked the story of Joe distracting himself by trying to find his brother. I enjoyed a lot the scene of all the butlers together, while Joe ruled out all the other butlers as his suspects for being his brother, and then settled on Jose being a potential candidate, which was a fun idea to explore. The butlers all realising that they need to help Josh and hold an intervention was good, and it's understandable that they're slowed down by how much is going on in their own lives. Rena agreeing with Ben that jobs are dumb was amusing. I liked the idea of Joe and Silvia snooping through Jose's stuff to see if he was the brother, and this being valuable mother-son bonding time for Silvia, even though I thought it could have lasted for longer. I'm just not sure I liked Silvia's sudden realisation that James was the brother just by looking at his eyes; I would have preferred a bit more work put in by the characters in order for the discovery to be made, so that it felt like Joe had earned the development, and that it wasn’t just handed to him, but the idea of the brother being James is good, especially since he's already appeared a good number of times this season, so it didn’t feel too random. The idea of Josh internalising some of Brad's personality is a strong way of showing how he admired Brad and needed Brad's traits in his life, and I like seeing his condition worsen by having him actually speak out now as Brad, the delusion taking more and more control. I think it all happened too suddenly for him to then pose as Brad to someone seeking a lawyer, but it's a fun idea for a story, and you obviously have limited time, with only twelve episodes to tell the story, so it's understandable. The scene of Josh in the courtroom was really good, as he tried to defend Juanita and told a story much similar to one of his own, while Juanita told him it was poop, and then he was interrupted by Greg with threats to his delusions, resulting in a punch. Hopefully Josh's suicide attempt will make his friends realise that, no matter what's going on in their lives, helping Josh should be a priority as they have no time to lose really. Kathryn being Andrew's daughter is a good way to integrate her with the other cast more, and I liked the other characters all being surprised at the revelation. Her scene with Liz, as they discovered Aliza was Eli's cousin and the sole beneficiary was fine, even if two family revelations in one episode was a little much, but I imagine it will lead to interesting developments. Liz and Kathryn both being late to the will reading was a good way of showing how similar they still are in some ways, and that while Kathryn may be worse, it wasn’t long ago when Liz was pretty much the same. The killer just missing Liz, planning her demise with a drum of bleach, was a good moment, and then killing accidently the stunt-double was a fine development, but I hope there isn't too many close-calls for the main cast if this is to be a true bloodbath. I liked the scene of Ali and Cassie bonding over their mothers and how Ali missed having Ben to confide in, so was doing so in Cassie. Ali visiting Joanna with the intention of finding out why Ben left and if he was missing her was very good, bringing home how much of a dominating thought in her mind he is, which is really nice to see. Ali making Cassie the main beneficiary of her will, which the girl then heard and so called her aunt to visit, was fine enough, assuming it leads to a strong story. While the ending of the episode wasn’t the most dramatic of endings, I like the focus on Ben and Ali here, and I'm interested to see how he helps her next episode. Actually, I really enjoyed the scene of Val and Joanna planning out how Jonna would adopt one of the babies, mainly because she realised in the end that she was doing wrong, and had upset Ben, who acted appropriately. I had pictured Joanna planning some terrible kidnaping, but if this is all the story was to be, then I'm happy, as I can forgive Joanna for a temporary moment of insanity considering her circumstances, and it was a fun story, though I hope not the end of Ben and Joanna's relationship, as I'd prefer them to mend some bridges first. Ben comforting Jennifer, and her accepting help, unlike Josh, was a nice scene, and I really liked how Ben reminded her of who she was and how they both stated their desire to make their daughter proud. Observations - Why were so many people invited to the will reading if there was only one beneficiary? I think on screen, the visual image of the Devious Butler murdering Liz's stunt-double may have worked better, but by just reading it, I think you had to convince us further that it was really Liz who had been killed for it to have much impact. Liz's suggestion that Ali was seeing Cassie as a younger version of herself, but not knowing if Marvin actually hurt Cassie, was intriguing, though I'd probably have preferred it to be more subtle, rather than have Liz just outright say it. James seems like one of the few candidates for being the Devious Butler, but considering how often estranged family members turn out to be the villain, I rather hope not, unless it comes with other shocking news and twists. The Bad – For about the first half of the episode, I thought this was shaping out to be the best episode yet of the season, as all the stories were so strong, but it ended up just missing that punch to take it from a great episode to an outstanding one. I didn’t care for the remark by Josh that maybe he knew Greg was right, because it doesn’t seem consistent with Josh's situation, and so just compromised story and character for the sake of one line. Best Butler – Though Joe's started off the strongest, and Rena was the most entertaining as a character, Josh and Ben had the strongest endings to their stories, I thought. I'm going with Josh as the I thought his story was the mostly consistently strong from beginning to end. Overall – Because the stakes are so much higher this season with the serial killer story, and the past episodes have already been so bloody, I expect quite a lot. All the stories this episode were great and they all started incredibly strong. Some undelivered slightly, like Joe and Silvia realising that James was the brother a bit too quickly or the ending to Rena's story not leading to any overreaching development, but I honestly enjoyed every single story this episode. Problem is, I now expect so much drama and tension that the third act was slightly underwhelming when Liz's stunt-double was the only victim and no clues were given regarding the serial killer's identity, even though all the episode's stories led to strong developments for next episode (except perhaps for Rena's). Still, though, a really great episode, and I'd say this is the strongest start to any season of Devious Butlers, with now four great episodes. If it remains at this standard, then this should be a really excellent season. Thanks for sharing, guys, it's strong work.